Conventional multilumen catheters are used to simultaneously infuse a plurality of fluids into a patient. The separate lumens of the catheters prevent fluids from interacting during the infusion process and before the fluids enter the patient's body. Maintaining fluids separately is particularly critical when the fluids to be simultaneously infused are chemically incompatible.
Furthermore, multilumen catheters may be used to infuse fluids such as medication into a patient's body while simultaneously withdrawing samples such as blood from the patient thereby eliminating the need for separate means of infusing and withdrawing fluids from a patient and minimizing patient discomfort.
Furthermore, conventional multilumen catheters cannot be easily inserted without the use of a dilator due to the cross-sectional size of the distal end of the catheter. The use of a dilator creates an extra step on the part of the surgeon or other health care personnel inserting the catheter. The extra time needed to insert and remove a dilator prior to the insertion of the catheter is extremely undesirable in emergency situations. Furthermore, the insertion of a dilator prior to catheter insertion may cause the patient to bleed more profusely as well as subjecting the patient to possible increased discomfort.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a multilumen catheter which may be quickly and easily inserted without the above described disadvantages, and which is economical to produce and compatible with existing medical equipment used with multiple lumen catheters.